Tracker and the Spy

by D. Jackson Leigh

  ❖

  Tan woke from the light doze that’d overtaken her after the second…no, her third and Kyle’s fourth…orgasm. The night was cool, but neither she nor Kyle needed anything other than the blanket under them that protected their skin from their itchy bed of hay. She usually liked the feel of a sheet covering her body when she slept in a bed, but Kyle was currently a more than adequate, if not overly warm, blanket draped over her.

  She stared at the metal rafters of the barn, faint outside the glow of the solar bulb, and smiled as she absently fingered a dark, silky lock of Kyle’s hair. It was growing out. Kyle had trimmed it again in the back and on the sides, but it was long and straight on top, falling across her brow in a boyishly sexy style.

  They should rise soon and prepare to leave. Farmers began work early, and they couldn’t risk someone showing up to feed the cattle and catching them lounging in the buff. Kyle mumbled in her sleep, as though she’d heard Tan’s thoughts, and snuggled closer.

  Kyle’s head rested next to Tan’s so that her slow exhales rhythmically caressed Tan’s neck and ear. Normally, that would irritate her. But she liked feeling Kyle that close, so close she sprawled half across Tan, one arm over Tan’s chest, tucked under her breasts, with one long leg stretched over Tan’s hips, thoroughly pinning her. She couldn’t move, which usually triggered a defensive response, something next to panic. But rather than suffocated, she felt anchored.

  Tan never slept with anyone. She had sex with them. She stayed overnight only if she needed a place to crash, not because she wanted to wake up with them. She’d had a best-friend-with-benefits arrangement with Jael. And with Anya…well, that was more of a service. But Kyle was an itch Tan couldn’t stop scratching, a thirst Tan couldn’t seem to slake. She feared Kyle would steal her control, taint her decisions. Even as she thought it, she closed her arms around Kyle’s shoulders, cradling her close.

  Tan needed to be in full control right now because too much was spiraling out of control. They seemed to be constantly chasing rumors and shadows. She found no battlefield honor, no feeling of victory in skulking around, chasing a madman traveling with a bunch of zealots. She was a warrior, trained to fight other soldiers head-on. If Jael was going to Brasília, Tan and Phyrrhos should be at her side. But Phyrrhos could foal in a few weeks, for stars’ sake, and was in no condition to go into battle.

  She had to agree with Jael. Something definitely felt wrong, very wrong, like something ominous was waiting. She didn’t like it.

  ❖

  The ray of sun that broke through the remnants of clouds in the hurricane’s wake seemed to seek out Cyrus where he stood on the flat bed of a truck loaded with gallons of fresh water, bags of ice, and boxes of groceries destined for a local store. A man who’d just come from finding his elderly parents crushed to death when the hurricane winds collapsed their home with them inside had been driving the supply transport Luke had flagged down. They’d quickly converted him and diverted his goods to their cause.

  Now parked among rows of houses flattened by the hurricane’s winds, surrounded by flooded streets and debris, Cyrus looked down at the crowd gathered to get a share of the truck’s bounty. First, they’d have to swallow his message.

  “Look around you, friends. This is the eighth disaster I have personally witnessed on the Third and Fourth continents. Scientists claim a rare convergence of galactic events and our legacy of environmental abuse is causing these weather anomalies. I am a professor of history, and I’m here to tell you this is simply history repeating a cycle our society is choosing to ignore because we think we’ve evolved beyond it.”

  A toddler began to cry, and the crowd shifted impatiently. Cyrus smiled at them.

  “Can a few of you men come up and help Luke—he’s the tall fellow right there—pass this water out to everybody?”

  Luke pointed to two men from the handful who stepped forward, and Cyrus pointed to the woman with weary eyes and the crying toddler.

  “Ma’am, can you come on up? That little one must be hungry or maybe needs a diaper change.” The crowd parted to allow her through. “Luke, I believe there’s a big box of diapers on that other side, and the one next to it has food for babies in it. Can you help her?”

  The woman gave Cyrus a grateful smile and hurried to the boxes he’d indicated. He had the crowd’s attention, and respect, when he turned back to them.

  “All the old religions recognized the truth, and the time has come for us to rein in our pride and acknowledge what we have sought to reject. There is only one true power, one creator of all, and he is angry. It is time we abandon our pride and misguided teachings to return to The Natural Order of things.”

  “Hey, do you guys know who that is?” A guy on the edge of the crowd waved excitedly. “That’s The Prophet. Right here in Matamoros.”

  Cyrus smiled. “You are right, brother. I was on a ship bound for Galveston, but The One led me here instead to help you.”

  “I believe.” A woman raised her hand. “My husband would be here to get supplies for us, but he was injured, broke his leg. He’s an elder among our local believers.”

  Cyrus clapped his hands together. “Excellent. Perhaps you could take me to him. If he can introduce me to the local elders, we can better organize our efforts to help people here. Also, I’m afraid we lost all of our personal things when our journey was, uh, redirected. If someone can help me with communication access, I can contact our regional center and have more supplies directed to this area.”

  “I’ll be delighted. My husband will think he’s hallucinating when I bring The Prophet to his bedside.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  The rain had stopped, but the air remained thick with humidity. The barn where they’d sheltered for the night was far enough inland and the hurricane’s path angled far enough northwest that most of the immediate damage they encountered was limited to flooding, flattened crops, hail-dented transports, and shattered solar panels. The destruction turned catastrophic as they neared Matamoros. Sturdy adobe structures were roofless, their household contents strewn throughout the streets. Animal carcasses—dogs, oxen, pigs, chickens—lay haphazardly in the road or in muddy yards and ditches.

  “Tan, look.” Kyle’s face was white, and her hand trembled where it lay on Tan’s forearm.

  A row of bodies lay lined up in front of a small café. A mix of blankets, sheets, and a few checkered tablecloths covered their torsos and faces, their arms and legs left exposed to the weak sun and swarming flies. Several small, frail limbs poked out from the hasty shrouds. Children.

  Tan had seen much worse. She’d looked out over entire battlefields covered with a tangle of dead and dying men, horses, and war dogs. She’d walked among them as a warrior, slaying still-breathing enemies and driving her sword into the heart of any suffering but fatally wounded comrades. She’d also once lain among them as life leaked out of her. Another life, another time.

  “Someone’s probably setting up a central morgue somewhere. Those are waiting to be tagged and transported. That’s how it works in a disaster zone.”

  “We have to help. We can’t just ignore what’s happening around us.”

  Kyle’s grip heated on her forearm, and Tan pried it away, then held Kyle’s hand in her own. “Deep breath, Kyle. You’re overheating. Cool it down a notch.”

  Tears filled Kyle’s eyes as they fixed on the bodies. “My brother was once one of them—one of those people lying in a row of dead at a morgue. If I’d been there to help, maybe it’d been me, and Thomas would still be here.”

  Tan grabbed Kyle’s shoulders. “Look at me, Kyle. He was destined to transition to a new life. It was his time. You cannot change what is meant to be.” She touched Kyle’s flushed cheek and finally spoke the truth she’d been afraid to admit. “What would have happened to me if you weren’t here? You’ve already saved me twice from departing this life prematurely. Your destiny and mine appear entwined.” Fearless warrior aside, she was too much of a coward
to simply confess she’d dreamed of…no, not just dreamed but realized that she desperately wanted many endless nights with Kyle.

  Kyle blinked at her, searching her eyes. A myriad of emotions Tan could only guess flashed across her handsome features. She didn’t question that Kyle returned the feelings growing between them, but Kyle hadn’t yet experienced the things she had. Life changes people. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust what Kyle felt for her now. She didn’t trust what Kyle would feel tomorrow or the next day or in the next life after she’d weathered what might be ahead. They’d have to speak more plainly, but sweating in the middle of a muddy road with the stench of death and exposed sewage plumbing in their nostrils wasn’t the place for promises and pretty words.

  They heard shouting farther down the road. A woman stood over the carcasses of two dead oxen, using a long staff to fend off three men next to a flat transport loaded with several more animal carcasses.

  “Let’s see what’s going on there,” Tan said, leaving the roadway to make her way through the rubble undetected by the group. Kyle stayed close behind her.

  “These are my oxen,” the woman yelled.

  One of the men stepped forward, sneering. “Where’s your man? Or maybe that’s the problem. You need a man to teach you a woman’s proper role in The Natural Order.”

  The woman raised her staff. “I’d like to see you try.” She wasn’t a large woman but appeared confident despite the three-to-one odds.

  “The carcasses will just rot in the heat,” a second man said more calmly. “We’re collecting all we find to butcher immediately. The meat will be properly stored and distributed daily from trucks in the downtown plaza.”

  “I know who you are, and I know who will get the meat. These are my oxen to butcher, and you heretics will not take them to let the rest of us starve.”

  The third man had begun to move behind her as Tan and Kyle stepped out from a nearby building.

  “Is there a problem here, friends?” Tan asked.

  The men eyed them. Tan’s darker-than-common skin and Mohawk hairstyle always drew second glances. But she’d grown used to the stares as strangers struggled to reconcile her ripped muscular physique with her very womanly assets. While they stared, she evaluated the situation. A quick hand gesture sent Kyle subtly maneuvering to the other side of the man circling behind the woman.

  “No problem,” the calm man said, smiling. He seemed to be in charge of the trio. “We’re part of the disaster-recovery team organized downtown. Somebody was smart enough to suggest we collect the dead livestock as quickly as possible before the meat spoils. A lot of roads and half the airport runways are flooded. They don’t know how long it will take to clear all the debris from the train tracks.”

  Tan nodded. “Good idea.” She turned to Kyle. “Maybe we should go downtown to see if we can help.”

  The woman snorted. “Don’t think you two would fit in with their kind very well.”

  The men looked curiously at Kyle.

  “Are you guys believers?” she asked.

  “Yes, we are.” The calm man said. “You know about The Natural Order.”

  Kyle nodded.

  “Shut up, Kyle. I’ll handle this.” Tan punctuated her words with a condescending snarl and hoped Kyle trusted what they’d shared the past few days enough to catch on to her act and play along. Kyle’s entire demeanor seemed to stutter, then change as she stepped back. Her hunched shoulders and nervous glances perfectly mimicked those of the female believers they’d rounded up from the train raid almost a month ago. Not just blazing hot, but sharp as a laser, too. She would make a good spy.

  Tan addressed the woman. “These are your oxen?”

  “Yes. My family works the cooperative farm outside of town. They were our work animals.” She looked at the bodies. “I don’t know how we’ll get along without them.” She glared at the men. “But their last service will be to fill our bellies, not the warehouse of a bunch of hoarders.” She spat on the ground for emphasis.

  The sneering man began to advance again. “I don’t see a man around to stop us.”

  When the woman raised her staff, the third man behind her made his move. Tan subtly waved Kyle off and grasped his forearm. “It shouldn’t take more than one man to subdue a woman, should it,” she said, burning her fingers into his arm when he tried to jerk free. His yelp distracted the sneering man, and the woman swept his feet from under him with one swift swing of her staff. Tan released her victim, and the woman withdrew to a defensive stance rather than follow her attack.

  “I want no trouble,” the woman said. “Just protecting what’s mine.”

  “That one doesn’t just look weird. She’s unnatural.” Tan’s victim backed toward the truck, keeping his eyes on her as though he expected her to launch herself at him. The calm man motioned him over and examined the blisters forming on his forearm.

  “We’re wasting time here, men,” the calm man said. “Get back in the transport.”

  “I’m not letting a bunch of women run me off,” the sneering man said. He charged the woman with the staff, but she was ready. She feinted as though she was going to hit him on the right side of the head, and when he reached up with both hands to grab the staff, she swung the other end up between his legs. His eyes bulged, and he grabbed his damaged crotch with both hands. This time, she did hit the right side of his head with the end of her staff, hard enough to knock him out.

  “He’s not seriously hurt, but get him off my property before he wakes up and I do have to really injure him,” she said to his friends.

  “Serves him right,” the calm man said under his breath. Without another word to the women, they lifted their unconscious comrade and tossed him into the flat bed of the transport among the animal carcasses, then climbed onto the driver’s bench and left.

  After the transport disappeared from sight, the woman turned to Tan and held out her hand. “I’m Diana. Thanks for having my back.”

  “No problem. I’m Tan. This is Kyle.”

  Diana nodded but didn’t extend her hand to Kyle. “I don’t hold with what those Natural Order people are pushing on people.”

  “Neither do we,” Kyle said, straightening her shoulders and coming to stand even with Tan.

  “I took a chance you’d understand and play along, but—” Tan cocked her head and raised her eyebrows at Kyle. “Wow, what a performance. You almost had me fooled.”

  Kyle’s face darkened, her eyes hardened in a scowl, and Tan grabbed her hand to squeeze it gently. “Hey, that was a compliment.”

  “I hate it.” Kyle looked away, her jaw working. “Having to do it brings up some old stuff.” She closed her eyes a few seconds, her face relaxing. When she opened them again, her normally expressive face was blank, her tight smile devoid of emotion. “I’m fine.”

  Tan knew the look, knew how it felt to bury your self-recrimination just so you can keep moving, keep breathing. When the hole she stuffed her guilt into grew too full, she went to see Anya. The punishment wasn’t a purge, never a solution. But enough abuse, bloody welts, tortured body parts, and humiliation gave her breathing room—pain in exchange for the pain she’d caused over many lifetimes.

  She clasped Kyle’s chin and gave her a little shake when she initially refused to look at her. Finally, Kyle’s gaze lifted to hers. “We’ll talk about this later, eh,” Tan said softly.

  Kyle sighed, her eyes softening. “Okay.”

  Diana was watching them curiously. “You’re not believers, then?”

  “Mother of a dung beetle, no. Did you miss the part about where women fit in The Natural Order?” Tan gestured to herself. “Do I look like one of those women?”

  Kyle scratched her head. “Maybe if we traded those cargo pants and bush shirt for a skirt and blouse…a red blouse would look nice with your skin tone…and maybe braid your Mohawk with some beads and ribbon,” she deadpanned.

  Diana burst out with a laugh, and Tan gave Kyle a playful shove. “Ha. Very funny, Blaze
.” She leaned close and whispered. “Careful, sparkler, or I might scorch you in places you’d rather not have blisters tonight.” Her threat, however, was hollow because her heart was singing to see Kyle rebound. But Tan knew she hadn’t really. Kyle had just closed the door for now, like Tan always did.

  Kyle flushed, cleared her throat, and looked at Diana. “I grew up in an agriculture community. I could give you a hand butchering these two unless you have some other help.” She hesitated and glanced at Tan. “That is, if we have time.”

  They should push forward. If believers were gathering in the town’s center, there could be news or at least rumor of Cyrus. Duty always had been Tan’s first priority, but seeing warmth, life again in Kyle’s eyes seemed more important now. Roads were a mess, trains weren’t running, and Second was headed for the only airport open within a half-day transport ride. If Cyrus had washed up near here, he wouldn’t get far very quickly. They could wait a few hours, maybe even a day.

  Tan shrugged. “We’ve got time. Maybe while we’re working, you can fill us in on what’s going on in town.”

  “Sure. I could use the help. The farm’s main complex is only about two kilometers from here,” Diana said. “A lot of the workers haven’t shown up, though, because they have injured or family sick from drinking bad water. My mate’s there, but his leg’s broken and there’s no doctor to set it. That’s why I came out to look for our oxen. I was lucky enough to find them a few minutes before those guys did. I’ll share the meat with everyone. They’ve been intercepting shipments for months and only giving it to people to join their cult.” She thumped the ground with her staff. “I’d rather starve.”

  Tan nodded. “Do you have a transport to get these big guys back to the farm to cut them up?”

  “Yes. Some of our other workers were using it when I set out, but now that I’ve found the oxen, we can go get it to haul them back.”